Biography

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Sarojini Naidu was always referred as ‘The Nightingale of India’, because of her proven talents in writing poems particularly inspiring Indian citizens with her meaningful and powerful creations, while she was actively involved in politics and independence movement. At a very young age, she wrote a play called ‘Maher Muneer’ which won not only many laurels but also got her the opportunity to study abroad on a scholarship. She brought in the feelings and struggles of freedom fighters for India through her writings calling the attention of political stalwarts of European nations, as went abroad on this scholarship. She was also a revolutionary by her marriage with Dr. Muthyala Govindarajulu Naidu, a South Indian belonging to another caste, in those days when inter-caste marriage was not approved by the the society making many raise their eyebrows.

Life

Sarojini Naidu was born at Hyderabad on February 13, 1879 to an illustrious parents Dr. Aghornath Chattopadhyaya and Varada Sundari Devi, her father being a scientist, educator and philosopher, while her mother had been a Bengali poetess. Dr. Aghornath Chattopadhyaya had the honor of being the first member of the Indian National Congress in Hyderabad and he was the one who started the Nizam College of Hyderabad, who on finding his daughter Sarojini very bright and intelligent in the young years wanted her to advance her studies in mathematics or science, whereas the young Sarojini showed her interest in writing poetry. At a very young age, she wrote a poem with thirteen-hundred-lines with the title ‘The Lady of the Lake’ which made people wonderstruck, particularly because of the powerful and impressive words she had used in that poem. Dr. Aghornath Chattopadhyaya thereafter started encouraging her poetic prowess, and in few months afterwards, Sarojini, wrote another remarkable work with assistance of her father, which was the play "Maher Muneer" written in the Persian language.

The proud father Dr. Chattopadhyaya made copies of this play and distributed the copies to his friends and prominent people of Hyderabad, which included the Hyderabad Nizam , who Impressed very much with the writing of the young Sarojini, chose to grant her a scholarship to study abroad, in the King's College of England, where she got the opportunity to interact with prominent men of English literature like Edmond Gausse and Arthur Simon. Later, it was the English author Gausse who encouraged Sarojini Naidu to choose her writings on the Indian themes such as rivers, great mountains,temples, social milieu etc.

After she returned to India, Sarojini Naidu married Muthyala Govindarajulu Naidu , at the age of 19, who was then a famous doctor in South India, their marriage solemnized under the Brahmo Marriage Act (1872) at Madras in the year 1898, had a happy married life bearing four children.

National Movement

Sarojini Naidu dedicated her life for India’s independence movement too, when she had the opportunity to associate with the great stalwart of freedom struggle Gopal Krishna Gokhale, through whom she got the acquaintance of many other leaders of Independence movement, including Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru, C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer and she was particularly hurt by the division of India into India and Pakistan, breaking Bengal into two portions. Sarojini Naidu took over the leadership of Indian National Congress, occupying its President’s post, and traveled extensively to various countries including many European countries and United States of Americaas an ambassador of the India’s freedom movement.

Death

Sarojini Naidu took over the Governorship of Uttar Pradesh in the Independent India, being the first woman Governor in India, and in that capacity when she chaired the Asian Relations Conference in 1947 which was highly appreciated, to Nation’s grief however, she passed away within two years of that position on 02 March 1949, at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.